Kindergarten

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

December 24, 2016

Christmas Eve

          In 1986, Robert Fulghum wrote the book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”  The book is actually a series of essays on all kinds of topics, but the first essay lists the life lessons learned in Kindergarten.  The list includes learnings like “Share everything.” “Play fair.” “Don’t hit people.” “Clean up your own mess,” which is all in caps!  And my personal favorite: “Take a nap every afternoon.”  Fulghum’s premise, with which I happen to agree, is that if we all lived by the lessons we learned in kindergarten, the world would be a better place.

          A friend of mine has a sweatshirt that says “All I need to know about following Jesus, I learned from Christmas.”  Obviously, this is a take off on Fulghum’s book, but the slogan on the shirt got me thinking.  Is it accurate to say that all we need to know about following Jesus we learn in the story we hear tonight?  What do we learn about Jesus in the story of a simple birth to humble parents that lights up the night sky with angels and song?

          The story begins with Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem to be counted for the census.  They have been summoned by Emperor Augustus for the first century equivalent of April 15^th.  They have come to Bethlehem from Nazareth to be registered in order to be taxed.  Governments don’t count people unless they are needing to count money as well.  When the young couple finally arrived in Bethlehem, I imagine there were long, dirty lines at the census office, the first century version of paperwork to fill out, too many customers and too few people working at the desk, and more weary, grumpy travelers than the local inns could accommodate.  And of course, that’s when Jesus decides to be born and the only bed available is a feeding trough. 

          Then, an angel shows up and scares the living daylights out of some shepherds.  The angel says “Do not be afraid; for see-I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign for you; you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”  The shepherds, who were out tending their flocks, leave the sheep to their own devices, pick up and go with haste to find Mary and Joseph and the child.      There is no star to guide them in this story-that is in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth.  All they knew was to look for a child in Bethlehem, wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. That sounds like looking for a needle in a haystack to me.  But apparently the angel’s directions worked.

Lastly, once they found Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, the shepherds made known all that had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.  The story implies that the shepherds told more people than just Mary and Joseph.  “All who heard it” implies that anyone within earshot heard.  But Mary and Joseph were certainly among those who were amazed at the shepherd’s words, and Mary had been told from the beginning that the child she carried was no ordinary child.  Remember the words of the angel: “‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’”  So, nothing the shepherds told Mary should surprise her.  Perhaps Mary and Joseph wondered how the shepherds, of all people, knew about their child. 

          So, what have we learned about following Jesus from the Christmas story?  First, we learned that the arrival of Jesus is not necessarily convenient.  Jesus often arrives in the midst of the chaos of our lives.  Jesus doesn’t wait until everyone is perfectly healthy, an exquisite dinner has been prepared, the gifts are beautifully wrapped, and the tree is expertly trimmed.  That is good news, for if Jesus could only be born in our midst when everything is perfect, and you are like me, then Jesus would never arrive.  The good news is that Jesus arrives in our lives, like he arrived in Mary and Joseph’s lives, when he is ready not when we are.  Following Jesus means making room for him whether he fits into our plan or not.

          Secondly, we hear the promise of the angel to the shepherds that they will find the child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.  A feeding trough is an unlikely place to find the messiah, the Lord.  The good news is that we will find the child if we look.  The challenge is that we are to look in unlikely places.  We find Jesus in the manger tonight, with all the glory of our Christmas worship, so that we can practice finding Jesus in the world around us.

          Lastly, once the shepherds have found Jesus, they tell everyone around them.  We find and experience Jesus here tonight, which leads us to find and experience Jesus in all sorts of unexpected places, which fills us with joy that cannot be contained within ourselves.   Good news is meant to be shared.  Following Jesus means expressing our joy and sharing our story.  But just as Mary listened to the shepherds, following Jesus also means being willing to learn about Jesus from unexpected people. 

          Do we learn all we need to know about following Jesus from the Christmas story?  While there is more to the story of Jesus than simply his birth, I believe that if we make room for Jesus even when it’s not convenient, look for Jesus in unexpected places and are willing to learn about Jesus from unexpected people, and share our joy with the world, we will live the Christmas story and that story will change the world.

                                                          Amen.

Outlet Malls

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

December 11, 2016

3 Advent A

          My friend Bonnie is what I would call a power shopper.  She loves to shop and finding a great deal is competitive sport for her.  When the new outlet mall opened in Columbus, Bonnie was ecstatic.  She might have been one of the first 100 people to arrive on opening day.   Because of Bonnie’s extreme shopping skills, she has extensive knowledge about available products to decorate a home, repair anything, and fill a closet.  The possibilities are endless.  I admire that because I don’t have those skills.  When I go shopping, I like to know exactly where I am going, what I am looking for, and what I will spend.  The possibilities end with what is on the list I made before I left home.  Consequently, I have little knowledge about the options for home décor, home repair, or the vast options for filling a closet.   The way I figure it, when I die, if I wind up in the place that is not heaven, that place will be an outlet Mall.

          John the Baptist approaches looking for the Messiah about the way that I shop.  He knows exactly what he is looking for.  Last week, we heard him describe the one who is to come.  Last week, John said “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”  This week, we hear that John’s prophetic activity has landed him in prison.  Later in Matthew’s gospel, we learn that John the Baptist is in prison because John the Baptist told Herod that Herod should not be sleeping with Herod’s brother’s wife.  No one ever won a popularity contest being a prophet!  This morning, John’s disciples have told the prophet about Jesus’ ministry.  So far in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus has called disciples, preached the Sermon on the Mount, made it clear that he has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, given the Lord’s prayer, and healed many people.  John has not heard one word about wheat and chaff, judgement for the Pharisees and Sadducees, broods of vipers or unquenchable fire.  John expected a little more hell fire and damnation out of Jesus, and there has been nary a lightning bolt.  John will soon have given his life to prepare the way for the One who is coming.  His question is urgent: Is Jesus really the one, or are we to wait for another?

            Jesus’ response is to quote from the very passage we heard from Isaiah this morning.  “Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”  My guess is that John, like most of us, wanted a nice clear answer: “Yes, I am the one who is to come,” or “No, we must wait for another.”  Instead, as is often the case, Jesus’ answer to an either/or question is “absolutely.”  Yes, Jesus is ushering in the time spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, when all brokenness will be made whole.  And yes, we must wait, and wait patiently, according to the reading from James, for that time when all injustice comes to an end and the whole creation is restored.  Jesus tells John, and us, to look so we can see and hear what is going on around us.  More is going on than we might notice, and what is going on points us to what is to come.  “Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them.”  John had a very clear idea of what the Messiah would do, and that very clear idea almost caused him to miss what the Messiah was actually doing.  We all probably have our own idea of what we are looking for in the Messiah.  We want a Messiah who will heal our loved one, end poverty, restore relationships, bring peace on earth. When Jesus doesn’t live up to our expectations, we wonder “Are you the one, or shall we wait for another?”  When we are consumed by our own version of what we are looking for in the Messiah, we may miss the Messiah who is working among us. 

            The world around us is full of people who have the same doubts about Jesus that John the Baptist has this morning.  But for many of them, the question is not even “Are you the one who is to come or shall we wait for another?”  Their question is “What good is Jesus if there is still all this suffering in the world?  What good is Jesus when Jesus’ people are full of judgment, or fight among themselves so much?”  For many people, followers of Jesus sound more like John the Baptist last week, warning people to flee the wrath to come.  If that’s the Messiah they are to look for, they will look for something else.  Advent calls us to look for the places that point to the coming of Jesus, the sorts of places Isaiah describes where new life is emerging, healing is happening, and people live in peace together, and hold those up for the world to see.  Advent calls us to open our eyes to places beyond our wildest imagination where the Christ Child is being born in our midst.  Advent calls us to be the answer to John the Baptist’s question for those around us who ask. Madeleine L’Engle, an Episcopal author who died about 9 years ago, once said “We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”   Advent calls us to show that light.

                                                                                                            Amen.

           

Orange Barrels

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

December 4, 2016

2 Advent A

          Don and I have lived in a number of different places.  We have lived in the cities of Nashville, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; and Springfield, Ohio.  We have lived in the rural mountains of western North Carolina.  We have lived in the small city of Piqua, Ohio and the suburb of Evanston, Illinois.  But no place we have lived takes their orange barrels as seriously as Northeast Ohio!  In the few months we have lived here, we have navigated the ever moving orange barrels of downtown Hudson, Twinsburg, and Interstate 271.  Every time I thought I had the traffic pattern down and knew which lane to be in, the barrels moved.  Sometimes they moved several times in a single day.  Dodging orange barrels seems to be competitive sport here.  But then, all of a sudden, one day they were gone, at least the ones downtown and in Twinsburg.  And within a few days, I found that I really wasn’t thinking about them anymore.  The orange barrels came, were a great inconvenience for a while, then they were gone and forgotten by most of us, other than those merchants whose livelihoods were so affected.

          There is a parallel between those orange barrels and John the Baptist.  Every Advent, when we try to beat a path to the manger and the baby Jesus, we are detoured though John the Baptist.  We, or at least I, want to hear tidings of comfort and joy.  Instead, we are called a brood of vipers and told to repent by a man in the wilderness with questionable taste in both food and clothing.  One option is to treat John the Baptist like those orange barrels, putting up with this inconvenience for a brief time, and then forgetting about him as soon as possible.  But since we encounter John the Baptist each and every year on the way to the manger, perhaps the more faithful option is to hear him out.  Hearing him out, however, feels like subjecting ourselves to a good scolding.  How can there be any good news in a diatribe that begins with “You brood of vipers?”

          Actually, I sort of like John the Baptist.  If we listen carefully, the prophet does speak good news at the same time that he speaks the truth about our lives as human beings. Listen to what the prophet says.  First, John the Baptist says "Repent. For the Kingdom of Heaven has come near." We get caught up in the annoying, but necessary, call to repent and miss the reason for that repentance. We are called to repent, not as an end in itself or so that the Kingdom of Heaven will arrive.  We are called to repent because the Kingdom of Heaven has already come near. That is good news, and the call to repent is the call to turn from those things that keep us from knowing the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst. What prevents us from experiencing God in our midst? Resentment? Fear? Worry? Self-absorption? The need to be in control? Repent, John the Baptist says, and experience the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst.

          Secondly, no one likes to be called a brood of vipers. If John the Baptist came from a good, Southern family, he would know at least 6 ways to say the exact same thing in a less offensive manner. But John does have our attention now. And if we listen, we hear John tell the vipers to bear fruit worthy of repentance. So, apparently, even vipers can repent and bear fruit worthy of that repentance. If vipers can do that, I imagine you and I can do that also. The Kingdom of Heaven is out of no one’s reach.  That is good news.

          Thirdly, John is clear that he does not have the final word. John says "one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Next week, we will hear John’s perplexity about Jesus when John asks from prison "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we wait for another." Jesus isn’t quite who John thought he would be. Jesus was less about fire and brimstone, and more about giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, and healing the lame. The Kingdom turns out to be bit more like Isaiah’s description this morning, where “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.”  But John has the basic message right-the kingdom of heaven has come near and everyone has the opportunity to repent and draw near to that Kingdom.

          Isaiah gives us a vision this morning of what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like.  In the Kingdom that Isaiah describes, all of creation can trust each other, because each member of creation is trust worthy.  No one is out to hurt or destroy anyone or anything.  In that vision, the earth is a peaceful place where all creatures, including humans, can live together in harmony.  What John the Baptist tells us is that awaiting the one who is to come, the one who will bring the coming Kingdom closer, is not a passive activity.  John stops us on the way to the manger, not to burn time until Jesus comes, but to make us pause and think about how we will prepare.   What will make us ready for Jesus’ arrival?  The reading from the letter to the Romans tells us with words that echo the passage from Isaiah.  Live in harmony with each other.  Welcome one another as Christ welcomed us.  Be people of hope.  Know the scriptures.   John the Baptist turns out to be the orange barrel that makes us stop on the way to the manger so we can prepare for the birth of the Christ Child by removing our own obstacles to finding Him.

                                                                   Amen.